


When I'm Close To You We Blend Into My Favorite Color

by CelticxPanda



Series: The Continuing Adventures of Morrigan and the Celtic Guard [4]
Category: DCU (Animated), Superman - All Media Types
Genre: Age Difference, F/M, Fluff, Getting Together, possible ooc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-02
Updated: 2015-11-02
Packaged: 2018-04-29 14:40:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5131340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CelticxPanda/pseuds/CelticxPanda
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clark never really had much to do with the Daily Planet's interns, but this one is a little bit different.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When I'm Close To You We Blend Into My Favorite Color

**Author's Note:**

> Since Spectrum will soon become a major part of the Celtic Guard story, I should give her an actual introduction. This takes place around the same time as Kolby's super hero origins, so about 2 years before the current time in the main story. Please enjoy, kudos and comments are appreciated! Thank you for the support!

“Excuse me, Mr. Kent.” Clark turned to see Aria Lloyd standing at his desk, camera bag slung over her shoulder and a sheepish look on her face.

“Aria, I’ve told you, you can call me Clark,” he said, giving her a friendly smile.

Clark wasn’t entirely sure what to make of the Daily Planet’s new intern. She was a photography student at one of Metropolis’ many universities (he forgot which one) and had started working for the paper as a way to get some extra cash and a little bit of college credit. She was smart and honest, if a bit shy. Though that last bit only seemed to come into play when she was dealing with Clark. He’d heard her argue confidently with many older reporters about the merits of multimedia journalism but the moment she had to speak with Clark words seem to die in her mouth. 

“Well it’s just that,” Aria mumbled as she clutched her bag. “For one of my classes this semester we need what my professor called a ‘consistent model’ and I was just wonder if you wouldn’t mind being my model for me.”

Clark felt his jaw drop and he heard papers being spilled close by (out of the corner of his eye he spots Lois trying desperately to pick up her files without being noticed). His focus, however, was on Aria and the darkening blush on her cheeks and the way her hands wring at the strap of her bag. 

“Are you sure I’m the one you want?” he asked.

“Yeah, don’t you have lots of actors and dancers at your school?” Aria frowned heavily when Lois jumped into the conversation. “Surely you could get better material out of them for your class.”

“But everyone in my class is asking the theater students,” Aria argued. “And they’re prone to taking over the shoot and making the photographer do what they want instead of following the photographer’s original vision. At least that’s what I’ve heard from my classmates who’ve gotten a head start.”

“I’m not really sure I’m model material,” Clark admitted, a sentiment that was echoed by Lois. “Maybe you should ask Lois?”

Aria glanced briefly at Lois before shaking her head. “No thanks. You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to Mr. K- Clark. I just…I thought you’d be a really good model.”

The disappointment was obvious on her face and in her voice and Clark couldn’t bring himself to say no. The smile she gave him was blinding as she reaches out and grabs his hand to scribble the times she has the studio booked each week on his palm. Wednesday evenings and Sunday afternoons. She also scrawled her number on his hand and told him to text her later so she could save his number and make plans to meet up later that week and discuss what everything entailed. 

 

Aria called Clark Wednesday right as he was getting off work to ask if he was free for dinner. They met not long after at a tiny hole in the wall Italian restaurant that Aria said made the best pizza she’d ever eaten. They sat and they chatted and Aria told him what she needed from him. First thing, he needed to sign a sheet consenting to the whole thing. Second thing, she showed him a list of various assignments, one of which is a nude photo shoot. 

Aria could see the embarrassment on Clark’s face and she nearly panicked in her attempts to assure him it wasn’t sexual and she would only turn in pictures he was okay with sharing. That assignment wasn’t due until the end of the semester anyway, they had plenty of time to figure that one out. 

Aria led the way back to her campus after dinner (Clark insisted on paying), chatting amicably with him as they walked. Clark was surprised how open and talkative Aria could be, he hardly ever saw this side of her before. She was normally so shy and quiet around him. Perhaps, he thought, she was just too excited about her projects to remember to be shy. 

Aria led Clark into one of the newer buildings on campus. Her university was one of the oldest schools in the city, but apparently they’d been going through a reconstruction project for the past few years. Clark noticed how quiet it was in the building, despite there being students in almost every room they’d passed. He wondered if the rooms were sound proofed as they passed another small room where a cellist was pulling her bow across the strings. 

“Here we are,” Aria muttered, grabbing her ID from her back and swiping it to open the door, which she held open so Clark could enter first. 

She flicked on the lights, revealing a fairly bare room. She walked in casually, pulling out one of the desks from against the wall and setting it in front of the tripod and lights. 

“They want us to show you as you are first,” Aria explained, grabbing a few old papers that had been left by the rooms previous users and pilling them on the desk. “You got a laptop with you?”

Clark nodded, pulling the small netbook out of his bag and setting it on the desk. Aria rushed about the room, setting up the camera and grabbing a few more props. She shoved him gently towards the desk, grabbing him a chair before sitting him down in it. 

“You working on a story?” she asked, looking through her camera and adjusting the lights accordingly.

“Yeah, for Friday’s culture page,” he confirmed, sitting stock still in his chair as he watched Aria move about the room.

“You can work on it,” she told him. “I would say just act like I’m not here, but I doubt you can do that. Just work on it and I’ll get what I need.”

Clark did as asked, flipping open his computer and digging the hand written draft out of his bag. Aria was quiet as he worked, the only sounds were her footsteps on the floor (muffled by the fact she’d taken off her shoes and was walking about in socked feet) and the occasional click of a camera shutter. He wasn’t entirely sure how long it went on, but Aria had to literally shake him from his concentration after she’d already put away her camera. 

She walked back to the campus bus stop, just across from her dorm. She thanked him profusely for allowing her to use him as her model and promised to email him the photos she’d be turning in to her professor. She hugged him briefly, before realizing what she was doing and running off, leaving a very confused Clark at the bus stop. 

 

Aria forgot to email Clark the pictures, but when she ran up to him, folder flapping in her hand and a smile brighter than the sun on her face, he figured they must have turned out good. 

“Clark, look!” she squealed, slapping the folder down on his desk and bouncing excitedly on the balls of her feet.

Lois and Jimmy crowded around the desk as Clark flipped open the folder. He heard Lois gasp and he couldn’t keep his jaw from dropping either. He looked…he looked good. His mother always told him he was handsome and he’d heard it from a couple of women since reaching adulthood but he never really trusted their words. He looked up at Aria, who just beamed at him.

“I got an A,” she admitted, suddenly bashful. “Honestly, I think it’s just because how photogenic you are.”

“Don’t sell yourself short,” Clark scolded gently, handing the pictures back. “You’ve got a lot of talent. You’d have to, to make me look this good.” 

“Yeah, it almost doesn’t look like Smallville,” Lois muttered, still in shock.

“Seems I’m not the one being sold short,” Aria huffed, taking back her photos and glowering at Lois, who didn’t seem to notice.

Aria rolled her eyes before addressing Clark again, “I’ve got the studio again on Sunday. We could meet for lunch before doing the shoot, if that’s okay with you?”

“Oh, sure,” Clark agreed, wondering if Aria was going to ask him for a meal before every session in the studio.

“Great! I’ll text you later,” Aria promised, turning to exit the building before remembering something and calling to him over her shoulder. “Oh, and bring a plain white shirt and some jeans with you.”

 

Superman didn’t know what Lex Luthor wanted with the weird glowing gem he hand in his hands, but he wasn’t going to let his evil plans come to fruition. Luthor struggled to keep the prism away from Superman, running around his office, only for Superman to trip him. The prism slipped out of his hands and flew through the open window that Superman had come in through.

 

Aria practically skipped down the sidewalk as she made her way through the city. She had another date with Clark planned and her spirits were high. Well, it wasn’t really a date, they were just meeting for lunch before going to the studio but it counted as a date in her mind. She was so happy that she was able to spend time with Clark outside of the workplace. She had no idea why Lois was so quick to put him down, he was handsome and smart and funny and super sweet. 

Aria was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn’t notice the prism fall from the top floor of LexCorp above her. She felt something hit her head and then a strange tingling sensation traveled down her spine from her head to her toes. She stopped, looking around to try and figure out what hit her, but she couldn’t find anything. Muttering a soft huh under her breath, she narrowed her eyes at the LexCorp building before crossing the street and continuing on her way.

 

“I can’t see it,” Superman muttered, gazing down at the street below.

“What do you mean you can’t see it?!” Luthor shouted. 

“I mean it’s gone, Lex, there’s nothing there.”

“Another planned ruined,” Lex growled, “And I didn’t even get to DO ANYTHING yet.”

 

It was another week before Superman figured out what happened to the prism. He found her sitting on the roof of the Daily Planet, gazing out over the city thoughtfully. She dressed in white and black, an emblem much like his own on her chest. She seemed familiar, but he couldn’t place how. The beauty mark under her left eye would have usually been something of a give away, but he was drawing a blank.

“May I ask what you’re doing up here?” he asked, hovering in front of the young woman, who looked up at him with big green eyes. 

“Waiting for crime to happen,” she replied blithely. “Something small that wouldn’t show up on your radar. I’m new to this hero business you see, didn’t want to get in over my head by trying to take down someone really dangerous.”

Superman stared at her and she stared back. She seemed sincere enough in her desire to help others and Clark liked to think he was a good judge of character. He extended his hand to her.

“I’m Superman.”

She gave him a small smile, reaching out and shaking his hand. “Spectrum.”

“Spectrum?” the name intrigued him.

“Watch, you’ll see what I’m getting at.”

She stood at the edge of the build and stepped off. Superman started to panic as she dropped, only to be surprised when she floated back up to hover along side him, her body radiating a soft indigo light. 

‘I glow a different color depending on what power I’m using,’ her voice whispered in his mind as some of her glow turned violet. ‘So Spectrum.’

“Amazing,” Clark murmured, flying slowly around the girl. “What else can you do?”

“Find us a crime to stop and I’ll show you,” she teased.

It didn’t take long to find a robbery. The police were already there, pinned down by the robber’s gunfire. Superman hovered just out of the way so he could watch Spectrum work but close enough that he could step in should thing get out of hand. Her first action was to create a wall of green crystalline structures to protect the police from the robber’s fire. She turned to the robber, shooting a red beam of light out of her hand to knock his gun away. She landed in front of him, glowing orange and punching in once in the face to knock him asunder. She glowed green briefly and the man’s hands were encased in her crystals. 

She floated back up to Superman as the police took the man into custody. She looked up at him expectantly, waiting to hear what he thought.

“I’m pretty impressed,” he admitted. “You’re a little rough around the edges, but you’ve got a lot of potential.”

“I can do other stuff too,” she told him excitedly. “You didn’t even get to see my ice breath or electricity!”

“Well, we’ll just have to do this again.”

 

Lois was arguing something with Clark when Aria got to work a few days later. A photo of Superman and Spectrum from the heroine’s debut lay on the desk. A proposed headline was written on computer paper just beside it ‘New Heroine Catches Superman’s Eye.’

“Are we fishing for scandals?” Aria asked, giving the headline a look of disgust. 

“We didn’t come up with it,” Lois informed her, giving the paper a similar look. “It was that pig Lombard. Honestly, there’s no proof that Superman is interested in her.”

“Well, I mean, I’m more upset that she’s just being reduced to a love interest for Superman, instead of being recognized or her own work,” Aria said, her grip tightening on her bag. 

Lois looked ready to say something else but Aria ignored her and turned to Clark. 

“Can I talk to you about something?” she asked. She glanced at Lois and decided to add, “In private.”

 

Aria climbed the fire escape stairs, Clark just behind her. If she was correct, the stairs had roof access (why she didn’t know, but she was pretty sure they did).

“What’s this all about, Aria?” Clark asked, and Aria could feel him right behind her. 

She paused, considering telling him right there. No one else was on the stairway, but she couldn’t do what she planned to do here. She kept climbing, not replying to Clark’s question. She found the roof access door and shoved it open, wincing at the squeak that followed. 

“Aria, we shouldn’t be up here, it’s dangerous!” Clark said urgently, flinching back when Aria suddenly shoved her bag towards him.

“Hold this and whatever you do, don’t freak out,” she told him, her voice oddly calm, deeper than it normally was.

If Clark didn’t know any better he’d say it sounded a lot like Spectrum’s. 

He took her bag in hand, wondering what the hell she was doing. His eyes went wide when she jogged over to the edge of the roof, hopping up on the barrier erected to keep people from falling off. She balanced there for a moment, staring over the edge at the city. She turned to grin at him over her shoulder before stepping off the edge.

“ARIA!” Clark made to run across the roof and dive after her, secret identity be damned.

That is, until she floated gracefully back up into view, glowing with a faint indigo light. Clark just gaped at her, not fully comprehending. She continued to float in front of him, keeping her eyes level with his.

“I don’t know how it happened, but I have these powers now,” she explained, her voice quiet and shy. “I can do way more than just fly. I think you know that, you’ve read the papers.”

“You’re…”

“I’m Spectrum,” she confirmed, lowering herself to the roof. 

“I don’t…why?” Clark asked, desperately trying to figure out why Aria would be telling him this. She was a telepath, wasn’t she? Did she read his mind and find out he was Superman? 

Aria’s face turned pink all the way to her ears and she tugged at the hem of her shirt.

“I know people around here really, really like super heroes. I’ve heard enough of the office gossip to know that much. I just…Do you like me now? Now that I’m a hero?”

Clark just stared at her, his mind working a mile a minute. So Clarissa from the advice columns was right, Aria did like him (Clark had honestly thought she was just trying to start some gossip). And she thought that the fact she was some secret super hero would make him more attracted to her. He was caught in a frankly awful situation. He did like Aria, she was smart and creative and sweet. He loved how passionate she got about her photography and the way she did everything so whole heartedly. But he was a senior member of the staff and she was just an intern, and he couldn’t bring himself to misuse that power. And the age difference felt massive, he was already creeping towards his thirties and she’d only just turned twenty. 

He could see her deflating, curling in on herself the longer he took to think it over. He handed her her bag, holding up a hand to stop her from saying anything just yet. He unbuttoned his shirt quickly, laughing internally at the weirded out look Aria gave him. He pulled his shirt open and showed her his emblem. Her jaw dropped.

“Well,” she swallowed thickly and laughed nervously, “That explains how freaking built you are.”

 

They left work together, walking in silence. Aria let Clark lead, not knowing where they were going. It was in the opposite direction of her campus and everywhere they’d usually meet. Metropolis was such a huge city that even in her two and a half years of schooling there she’d yet to explore it all. 

He brought her to an apartment building, a pretty nice one if she was honest. He was bringing her to his home? She’d never even let him in her dorm building. She felt her heart beat faster and faster as the elevator climbed higher and higher. They remained silent as he led her to his door, unlocking it and holding it open for her. It was a nice apartment. She was kind of surprised that it was a studio apartment, but Clark did like to joke about a reporter’s salary. 

“We should be able to talk here,” Clark said, setting his bag on the kitchen island and picking up the phone. “Do you like Chinese? I know a great place that delivers.”

“Uh, yeah,” Aria muttered, shifting restlessly from one foot to the other. “I like sweet and sour chicken. And dumplings.”

“You got it.” 

Aria walked deeper into the apartment. There was no dining table, only two barstools at the breakfast bar that separated the kitchen from the living space and a coffee table in front of the couch. His bed sits against the right wall, just behind the couch. He had an impressive view of the city through the far wall, which was made solely of windows. She set her bag next to the couch as she sat down. What the hell was she doing? What was Clark doing? She was so confused and she felt so stupid. Why the hell had she asked him if he liked her? Obviously he didn’t like her like that or he would have said so by now, right? She buried her face in her hands and groaned.

“Aria?” she looked up at Clark’s questioning call. He’d changed out of his suit at some point and Aria figured his closet must be in the bathroom or something.

“Food will be here soon,” he said, sitting next to Aria on the couch. “I guess now is a good a time as any to talk.”

“I’d rather just hide under your bed and let the universe eat me, thanks,” Aria muttered, staring at the front door in lieu of looking at Clark.

“It’s not as bad as you think,” Clark reassured her. “You’re wonderful, Aria. You’re fun and smart and I love watching you be passionate about the things you love.”

“I’m sensing a ‘but’ coming soon,” Aria joked sarcastically in an effort to cover up the fact she felt like she was about to cry.

“The situation we’re in doesn’t let us have the kind of relationship you want,” Clark explained.

“What situation? The fact I’m an intern?” Aria glanced over to Clark, but quickly returned her gaze to the door. “The internship only lasts a semester, and it’s not like anyone would have to know. We could just keep doing what we’re doing. We already go on dates, if you think about it.”

“It’s just not ethical,” Clark argued, turning to sit on the couch so he could look at Aria without twisting his neck.

“So, what? You refuse to be with me because you think you’re going to abuse some position of power that you honestly don’t have?” Aria snapped, finally turning to face Clark, her arms crossed defensively over her chest and her expression sour. “News flash, Mr. Kent, you’re not my supervisor. Perry is. And given my position as a photography intern, Jimmy has a greater position of power over me than you do.

“And even if you did have that kind of position, do you honestly think you of all people would abuse any sort of power you had?”

Clark knew he wouldn’t, but that didn’t mean others wouldn’t. It wasn’t so much the fact the two of them were in that situation as it was the fact the situation itself was unsavory. How many times had he heard some of the less moral men in the office talk about what they would do to the young interns that passed through the Daily Planet? He’d even heard some things being said about Aria. 

“We don’t have to be together as Aria and Clark,” she offered softly. “People already assume Spectrum and Superman have some sort of relationship. Or do you think Lois would be jealous?”

Clark sputtered, his face turning red. “Superman is not in a relationship with Lois Lane!”

“Maybe not, but she sure wants him to be,” Aria drawled, rolling her eyes at the idea. “And don’t tell me you don’t have some kind of crush on her. Why else would you let her walk all over you like you do?”

Clark opened his mouth to argue, but the intercom buzzed. Food was here. 

Aria was surprised by the sheer amount of food that Clark had ordered. She didn’t remember him ordering any more food than a normal person would when they’d gone out before. She quickly snatched up the dumplings, hoarding them away from Clark.

“Hey, whatever happened to sharing is caring?” he joked, reaching for the container with his chopsticks.

Aria smacked his hand away playfully. “Fuck that, man. Food is too precious to share with anyone but myself.”

The two continued to stuff their mouths with way too much Chinese food, relaxed in the lighter mood. Eventually, they set their utensils aside and Clark spoke first.

“I’m not going to date Spectrum as Superman just because people assume they already are,” he told her plainly. “But if you’re willing to wait until the semester is over and your internship has ended, I’d be happy to date you then.”

Aria agreed, though she knew she was going to get impatient. Christmas break was still more almost three months away, October had only just started. She giggled, a sudden thought coming to her.

“You realize the nude photo shoot just become, like, five times more awkward.”

 

Aria shivered against the cold wind and pulled her jacket tighter around her as Clark lifted her suitcase into the trunk of her car. She was heading home for Christmas, back to Kentucky and away from the hustle and bustle of the city. She’d be back in Metropolis for New Years, though. Dorms didn’t open until a week before classes started, but when your boyfriend lived nearby it didn’t really matter. She’d give him his gift then, a copy of the photo book her professor made out of her assignments that year (the top three students got one for free, and another for a small fee if they wanted one). Perhaps it would seem a little arrogant for Clark to have a book full of photos of himself, but it was something they’d made together and Aria couldn’t think of a better present.

Clark closed the trunk of her car with a soft thud, turning to smile at her.

“So I guess I’ll see you after Christmas,” he said softly, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

“Yeah,” Aria agreed. She reached out and tugged at his coat sleeve until he took his hand out of his pocket so she could link their fingers together loosely.

“I’ll call you when I get home,” she promised. “And again to wish you Merry Christmas. And again when I leave for Metropolis. And probably a couple of times between that.”

“I’d like that.”

“So…we’re together now.” 

“That’s right.”

Aria slid in closer to Clark, basking in his warmth. “Does that mean I can kiss you now?”

Clark chuckled, leaning down until their lips were mere centimeters apart. “You most certainly can.”


End file.
